SPPG Newsletter: Vol I. Issue I. July- October, 2017

40 Pages·2017·2.53 MB·English

SCHOOLOFPUBLICPOLICYANDGOVERNANCE July–October,2017 ISSUE1
In this Issue
Editorial Team
LegislativeBrief
Executive Editor MaharashtraProtectionofPeoplefrom
Geetha Krishna SocialBoycottAct,2016…..................................................................................................5
Contributing Editors TheSurrogacy(Regulation)Bill,2016.........................................................................8
Tharun Bathini
Parliamentary News
Spriha Pandey
Monsoon Session 2017......................................................................................................11
Swarnima Bolke
Research Reports
Cover Design
Policy Compliance: Developing Partnership, Creating Stakes………………….16
Meenal Rawat
Akhil Reddy How Accessible are our Public Spaces for the Persons with Disabilities: An
Source: Google Images access study of Cyberabad…………………………….……………………………………..….17
Newsletter Design
Haunted by their Persecuted Pasts: The Rohingya Settlements in
Geetha Krishna Hyderabad……………………………………..…………………………………………...………….18
Publications
Faculty Working Paper………………………………………………………………………… 21
Student Publication……………………………….……………………………………………... 21
New Faculty ……………………………….………………………………………….………... 23
Workshops
Facebook WASHPoliciesinIndia…………………………………………………………………..………..25
UnderstandingandUnbundlingGST…………………………………………….………….25
Website
SystemDynamics………………………………………………………………………………..…..26
DataAnalytics……………………………………………………………………….…………..…...26
Acknowledgement Experiential Learning
The information and photos Experiential Learning………………………………………………………………………..……28
containedinthisnewsletterare
produced by School of Public
Perspectives
Policy and Governance, TISS
Perspectives; June –October Series…………………………..…………………….........…31
Hyderabad Off Campus.
However some of the
Alumni News …………………..…………...........................................................................34
information and photos may
have been taken from other
sources. The editorial team of Films …………………………………………………….…………………………………………..38
the newsletter acknowledges
allsuchmaterial.
SCHOOLOFPUBLICPOLICYANDGOVERNANCE July–October,2017,ISSUE1|
From the Editor's Desk
Welcome to the first edition of the Newsletter from the School of Public
Policy and Governance, TISS Hyderabad. At the outset let us extend our
warm greetingsto you,readers in joining us on thisjourney.
TISS has always had a strong commitment to contribute to society, to
embrace new initiatives, and to engage deeply with communities near and
far, as this Institution is built on the premise that the greatest innovations in
history have come from people bold enough to explore new frontiers and to
take novel approaches.
The School of Public Policy and Governance (SPPG), Hyderabad, was
established in the year 2013, in order to educate young individuals in the
disciplines of policy and governance. In keeping with its mission of
mentoring students into top grade policy professionals, the School of Public
Policy and Governance undertakes various activities. This newsletter aims to
report important policy initiatives, publish policy analysis and
policy/legislative briefs. It will also encourage the students of SPPG to write
commentaries on critical policy developments. The SPPG newsletter is also
mandated to cover all the activities of the School including research pursuits,
seminar and workshop series, experiential learnings, student and faculty
achievementsetc.
Once again we welcome you and encourage you to participate actively in this
endeavour.
Wishing you allthe best!
Editors
Legislative Briefs
SCHOOLOFPUBLICPOLICYANDGOVERNANCE July–October,2017ISSUE1|PAGE5
Legislative Brief-I
Introduction
The phenomenon of social
Maharashtra Protection of People from
boycott/ostracismisnotarecentoneandhasbeen
Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and
used bypowerful groupssince timeimmemorial to
Redressal) Act, 2016: Protection or
enforce their diktats. It is primarily used against
Pretence? lower castes, women and members of the same
Tharun Bathini community who dare to go against the prevailing
Graduate Student, SPPG social structure. Some examples of situations
where social boycott is usually enforced include
The Maharashtra Protection of People marriage outside his/her caste or within the same
from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and gotra, accessing places of worship/institutions
Redressal) Act, 2016is a step inthe right direction which are usually restricted to a particular
in the process of eliminating the hold of caste communitybylowercastesandlowercastestrying
panchayats or gavkis on affairs of society. It to gain social mobility or utilize economic
receivedPresidentialAssenton03rdJuly2017and opportunities.
the act prohibits social boycott on the basis of The need for a law prohibiting social
religion, caste, community and customs or rituals. boycott was felt as instances of atrocities on
The need for this law was felt after growing individuals/families by caste panchayats were
instances of honour killings and other such diktats growing and loopholes in existing laws were being
of caste panchayats were reported from various usedbypowerfulgroupstoescapepunishment.
parts of the state, especially after the murder of Growing public support against instances of honor
rationalist Narendra Dabholkar. Though the final killings and campaigns by Maharashtra
actis a watered-downversionof anearlierdraft,it Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) led by
is hoped that this is a starting point towards rationalist Narendra Dabholkar against prevailing
bringingoutaNationalAnti-Discriminationlaw. social evils led the state government to draft this
law
Recommendations
Definitions
1. A law which prohibits Social Boycott is
The act defines social boycott in a
needed at a national level as this
broadwaybylisting15kindsofoffences.Itdefines
phenomenon is not limited to the state of
caste panchayat as a body which regulates various
Maharashtra
practices of the communitybycontrollingpersonal
2. Offences under this act should be non-
and social behaviour of its members and families
bailable.
using various means. Caste Panchayats enjoy
3. The act should be amended to include the
dominanceovertheirmembersandusuallyactasa
provision of speedy trial of offences by a
disputeresolutionmechanismbysolvingcasesand
magistrate. Creating special courts for this
punishing members. It is important here to note
purpose will go a long way in reducing the
thatthislawdealswithintra-casteaffairsaloneand
influence of caste panchayats and will also
doesn't deal with inter-caste/inter-religious
reiterate the commitment of government
marriages and other such issues. It also doesn't
towardstheprohibitionofsocialboycott
deal with collective caste panchayats where caste
4. National Crime Records Bureau should start
panchayatscometogethertoresolveproblems.
collecting data on Social Boycotts to ensure
There is a difference between the definition of
effective implementation of the act in areas
victiminthedraftlawandthefinalact.Thefinalact
where there is a higher incidence of this
excludesmental,psychologicalandemotionalharm
phenomenon
whichareincludedinthedraftlaw.
Continued…
SCHOOLOFPUBLICPOLICYANDGOVERNANCE July–October,2017,ISSUE1|PAGE6
This makes a huge difference as the magistrate in their duties. He/she is also required
aim of caste panchayatsis to isolate the boycotted to file a quarterly report regarding the work done
individuals and this leads to loss of dignity which to designated officials. Therefore, this office
cannot be construed as physical or monetary ensuresthatthelawisimplementedeffectively.
harm. Therefore, it is important for courts to
incorporateabroaderinterpretationofharm. Treatment of Social Boycott as Law and Order
Problem
Possibility of Legal Challenge - Prevention of The 2013 directive of the Bombay
Excommunication Act, 1949 and Conflict with High Court stated that the state government
Article26 should direct the department of social justice to
One of the laws repealed through the draft the bill. But the bill was given to the home
Social Boycott Act is The Bombay Prevention of ministry which shows that dealing with caste
Excommunication Act, 1949 which is considered panchayats was being treated as a law and order
as one of the first attempts to prohibit social problem. Activists raisedobjections to this but the
boycott. It was enacted to protect the civil, social billendedupbeingdraftedandpassedfromhome
and religious rights of those who have been ministry. This led to the failure of integration of
excommunicatedbytheirowncommunities.Butit how caste panchayats work on the ground in the
was finally struckdownbya majorityjudgmentof act.(Ingole,2017)
the Supreme Court of India as it held that the act
violated right of religious denominations to SupportforAct-ion
manage their own affairs under Article 26(b) Anactmadeforprohibitingregressive
(Bhatia, 2016). This judgment is in conflict with practices in a society cannot be successful when
some provisions under Section 3 of Social Boycott there is not enough public support for it. It is
actwhichmakeslegalchallengetoitpossible. difficult to eliminate age-old and deep-rooted
practicesinasocietyandlawalonewillnotmakea
Exclusivefocuson'SocialBoycott' difference. Law enforcing agencies need to be
Itisimportanttonoteherethat'Social sensitized on the act and exhibit resolve in
Boycott' is not the only 'weapon' used by caste enforcing the law strictly to ensure compliance. It
panchayats in their affairs. It is felt that the is also important to ensure that provisions in
definition of social boycott and provisions dealing progressive laws are not watered down to
with it are only targeting the lower caste accommodate interests of politically/socially
panchayats and not the 'evolved' panchayats of dominant groups as they prefer status quo in
upper castes. Social evils are prevalent in villages society.
and far flung areas where caste panchayats In the case of Social Boycott law, it
continuetohaveanauraoflegitimacyandemploy took more than 2 years for the draft prepared by
practices which are considered as 'backward' and MANStobecomelaw.Unfortunately,thefinalactis
easy to identify. In contrast, upper castes as they a watered-down version of the draft. This is not
exercise control over their communities in ways the first instance of a progressive draft to get
which are not covered under this act. (Ingole, delayed and provisions diluted. The same
2017) happened with Prevention and Eradication of
Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and
ProvisionofSocialBoycottProhibitionOfficers Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013.
The act has a provision for (Editorial,EPW,2016)
appointment of a government officer as Social
Boycott Prohibition Officer with an area under
his/her jurisdiction. He/she detects the
commission of offence and assists the police and Continued…
SCHOOLOFPUBLICPOLICYANDGOVERNANCE July–October,2017,ISSUE1|PAGE7
PolicyImplications Congress, http://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-
news/article/india-maharashtra-passes-
1. This law might encourage people to report legislation-against-social-boycott/. Accessed 16
instances of social boycott intheirareas. But August2017
for this to happen, reforms in police 3.Ingole, Anagha. “Maharashtra’s Law on Social
administrationareneeded Boycott, A Critical Review” Economic and Political
2. It might lead other states to pass this law as Weekly,
theproblemofsocialboycottisnotlimitedto http://www.epw.in/journal/2017/32/commentar
Maharashtra alone. There are growing calls y/maharashtras-law-social-boycott.html Accessed
for a similar law in Chhattisgarh by August122017
rationalist outfits. An organization based in 4. “Maharashtra Protection of People form
Raipur spearheaded the movement against Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and
social evils which led to the introduction of Redressal)Act,2016(Mah.ActNo.XLIVof2017)”,
Witchcraft Atrocities (Prevention) Act in http://bombayhighcourt.nic.in/libweb/acts/State
2005 in Chhattisgarh, to eliminate ‘Tonhi’ act/2017acts/2017.44.pdf Accessed on13 August
cult, (branding a woman as witch and 2017
witchcraftpractitioner).(IE,October2016) 5. Kumar, AlokPrasanna. “Law and Society - Social
Boycott Act Constitutional Validity and Article 26”
Economic and Political Weekly,
Conclusion http://www.epw.in/journal/2016/21/law-and-
The outcome of the first case filed society/social-boycott-act.html.Accessed 13
under the new law does not inspire confidence as August2017.
ithasbeenreportedthatthepoliceinitiallytriedto 6. “Opposing Social Boycott” Economic and
discourage the members from filing a complaint. Political
They instead tried to convince them to not return Weekly,www.epw.in/journal/2016/1/editorials/o
to the community which rejected them. It has also pposing-social-boycott.html. Accessed 13 August
beenreportedthatpoliceaskedthemtoprovethat 2017
they have been ostracized. This shows that caste 7. Khapre, Shubhangi.“What is Maharashtra’s new
panchayats might continue to thrive despite the social boycott law? Why it was brought, what will
act.(Ingole,2017) it do?” Indian Express,
Therefore, there is still a long way to http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/what
go to achieve the ideal envisaged by Narendra -is-maharashtras-new-social-boycott-law-why-it-
Dabholkar which is elimination of caste was-brought-what-will-it-do-4758546/. Accessed
panchayats for which he said ending of giving 15August2017
legitimacy to claims of power by caste based 8. “Chhattisgarh: Rationalist outfit wants ‘social
associationsisthekey boycott’ criminalised” Indian Express,
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-
References news-india/chhattisgarh-rationalist-outfit-wants-
1. Bhatia, Gautam. “The New Maharashtra Social social-boycott-criminalised-3070178/. Accessed
Boycott Law: Key Constitutional Issues”Indian 14August2017
Constitutional Law and Philosophy,
https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2016/04/2
1/the-new-maharashtra-social-boycott-law-key-
constitutional-issues/.Accessed13August2017
2. Ahmad, Tariq. “India: Maharashtra Passes
Legislation Against Social Boycott” Library of
SCHOOLOFPUBLICPOLICYANDGOVERNANCE July–October2017,ISSUE1|PAGE8
Legislative Brief-II
KeyRecommendationsandAnalysis:
TheSurrogacy(Regulation)Bill,2016
TheBillRecommends1
Souma Sekhar Gangopadhyay
Graduate Student, SPPG
Only a “close relative” [4 (iii) (b)(II)]]can be the
Surrogacy, a practice whereby one
surrogate mother for an intending couple. The
woman bears and gives birth to a child for an
surrogate mother must be married, have one
intendingcouplewiththeintentionofhandingover
child of her own and may help in the process of
such child to the intending couple after the birth.
surrogacy by donating her egg or oocyte. [4 (iii)
[2.(zb)]
(b)(I)(ze)]
Advantages: The policy discourages
Surrogacyisonlypermittedforcouples
commercialsurrogacyortheexploitationofwomen
who are Indian citizens, married for at least five
from economically weaker sections as surrogates.
years and at least one of them is declared to be
Long-standing ethical debates on the
infertile. Surrogacy is not permitted for in the case
commercialization of surrogacy and treating of the
of any other medical condition that may prevent a
‘surrogatemother’andthe‘baby’asacommodityis
womanfromgivingbirthtoachild.
somewhataddressedinthisrecommendation.
Altruistic Surrogacy: The bill only
Disadvantages: The policy does not
permits altruistic surrogacy. Only payments
define a “close relative”. The only other acts which
pertainingto the medical expenses incurred onthe
can be referred to for a definition are
surrogate mother and the insurance coverage for
Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act,
the surrogate mother can be paid by the intending
1994 (THOA Act) that identify the spouse, son,
couple.
daughter, father, mother, brother or sister as a
Commercial surrogacy, advertising
“nearrelative”anda“livingdonor”. TheCompanies
commercial surrogacy or exploiting the surrogate
Act, 2013 also defines the term “relative” but not
mother is punishable with imprisonment for 10
‘close’or‘nearrelative’.Sincethesurrogatemother
yearsandafineofuptoRs10lakh.
mayalsobethedonoroftheoocyte,equatingtothe
biological mother, none of the relations mentioned
The surrogate mother can only be a
in the THOA Act, 1994 can be recommended as it
close relative of the intending couple. “Close
mayleadtoserioussocialandethicalconcerns.
relative” has not been defined in the scope of the TheBillRecommends2
bill. The “close relative” may also donate her own
eggforsurrogacy. Storage of embryo or gamete for surrogacy is
prohibited.[3(vii)]
Theabortionofthefoetusmustadhere
totheMedicalTerminationofPregnancyAct,1971.
Advantages: One long standing
The approval of the authority and the surrogate
concern has been the exploitation of ‘donors’,
mother is mandated for the procedure. The policy
especially oocyte donors by commercial fertility
issilentonthetime-limitforsuchapprovalsbythe
clinics. The women who donate oocytes
authority and the need of consent from the
commercially usually come from economically
intendingcouple.
weaker backgrounds and get paid per unit of
oocyte they donate. This often-incentivized heavy
The policy makes provisions for the
donation sessions that in extreme cases led to
appointment of appropriate Central and State
blood clots and kidney failures. By disallowing the
authorities for the regulation of surrogacy in the
storage of gametes, the over-harvesting of gametes
form of National Surrogacy Board (NSB) and State
wouldbestopped.
SurrogacyBoard(SSB).
Continued…
SCHOOLOFPUBLICPOLICYANDGOVERNANCE July–October2017,ISSUE1|PAGE9
Disadvantages: Women had the The provision of allowing only altruistic surrogacy
libertytostoretheiroocytesforsurrogacyatalater along with allowing surrogacy only for infertile
point of time. This policy no longer permits that. couples, steers the policy clear of most normative
Secondly,aspertheICMRGuidelinesof2005,there conflictsassociatedwithsurrogacy.
islessthan30%chanceofimplantationdeveloping
into a successful pregnancy. Storage of gametes Disadvantages: The policy fails to
allowed multiple implantation procedures more acknowledge the fact that there may be several
efficiently. This rule may increase the overall othermedicalconditionsinwhichawomanmaybe
economic as well as structural cost of the able to conceive but may not be able to carry the
procedure as the extraction processes has to be child for the full-term. The normative argument of
repeated for each implantation. This may affect right to procreate is somewhat defeated as the
‘intending couples’ from economically weaker policy denies such individuals the ability to engage
sections to undergo the process of surrogacy, insurrogacy.
especiallyinsub-urbanandruralregions.
References
1. Bhattacharyya, R. (2016). Draft surrogacy
TheBillRecommends3
(regulation) bill 2016: Rhetoric or surrogate-
centric?.
The decision to undergo surrogacy must be
2. Draft Assisted Reproductive Technology
approvedbytheregulatoryauthority.[4(iii)]
(Regulation) Bill, 2014,
http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/draft
Advantages: The regulation of /Draft%20Assisted%20Reproductive%20Tech
surrogacyandsurrogacyclinicswouldundoubtedly nology%20(Regulation)%20Bill,%202014.pdf.
reduce the opacity of the procedure and the 3. Kala,M.&Rao,N. (2017). Legislativebrief:The
exploitationofallthestakeholders. surrogacy (regulation) bill 2016. PRS
Legislative Research. Retrieved from
Disadvantages: There is no time http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/Surr
frame mentioned for the approval or the rejection ogacy/Legislative%20Brief-
of the application by the regulatory authority, Surrogacy%20Bill.pdf
unlike the THOA Act. This leaves the scope for 4. Kusum,S.(2017).Surrogacybillshouldaddress
unwanted delays andred-tapeism. Also, thereis no health safe-guards. The Economic Times.
scope for appeal mentioned in the policy for Retrieved from
“intending couples” whose applications will get http://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/n
rejected. ews/policy/surrogacy-bill-should-address-
health-safeguards-sonali-kusum/59329910
TheBillRecommends4
5. Qadeer,I.,&John,M.E.(2009).Thebusinessand
ethics of surrogacy. Economic and political
Only couples suffering from infertility can
weekly,10-12.
undergosurrogacy.[2(p)],[4(iii)(a)(I)]
6. Scott, E. S. (2009). Surrogacy and the Politics of
Advantages: By restricting surrogacy Commodification. Law and Contemporary
only to couples who suffer from infertility, the Problems,72(3),109-146.
principleofthepolicyisbeingbasedontherightto 7. Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs.
procreate which was deemed as civil right in the (1994). The transplantation of human organs act,
USA in Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942) and has later 1994. Retrieved from
been deemed as a human right under the domain http://notto.nic.in/WriteReadData/Portal/images
reproductiverights. /THOA-ACT-1994.pdf.
Parliamentary News
Monsoon Session 2017